Explainer: Who’s To Blame for Projected Teacher Layoffs

During a press conference where Gov. Rick Perry announced his continued support for legislation that endorses the 10th Amendment and blasted what he described as an overly intrusive federal government; he also refused to take responsibility for tens-of-thousands of teacher layoffs, which will occur if proposed budget cuts to public education are implemented.

“The state of Texas is not who employs the members of the school district. The lieutenant governor, the speaker, their colleagues aren’t going to hire or fire one teacher, best I can tell,” Perry said. “That is a local decision to be made at the local districts.”

Perry contended, “Over the course of the last decade, we have seen a rather extraordinary amount of non-classoom employees added to school rolls … I think the non-teaching corps would be the first place that I would look if there were going to be reductions that were made.”

For example, Houston Independent School District receives about one-third of its total funding from the state and about two-thirds comes from local revenues like property taxes. The school district projects that it faces a $171 million shortfall for its upcoming budget period. It will see its funding from the state reduced by $160 million.

Put another way, if state funding remained constant, the district would face an $11 million shortfall instead of the $171 shortfall it must currently contend with.